What If A.J. Burnett’s ERA Doesn’t Go Below Five In 2011?
Posted by Steve L. on August 29th, 2011 · Comments (6)
Well, no Yankees pitcher has ever made 25+ starts in a season, and lost 10+ games, and had an ERA of 5+ more than once…unless A.J. keeps his ERA up this year. Here’s the list to make this club, to date, including Burnett this year:
Yankees, From 1901 to 2011, with ERA>=5 and GS>=25 and L>=10
| Rk | Yrs | From | To | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A.J. Burnett | 2 | 2010 | 2011 | 33-34 | Ind. Seasons |
| 2 | Javier Vazquez | 1 | 2010 | 2010 | 34-34 | Ind. Seasons |
| 3 | Mike Mussina | 1 | 2007 | 2007 | 38-38 | Ind. Seasons |
| 4 | Randy Johnson | 1 | 2006 | 2006 | 42-42 | Ind. Seasons |
| 5 | David Cone | 1 | 2000 | 2000 | 37-37 | Ind. Seasons |
| 6 | Melido Perez | 1 | 1993 | 1993 | 27-27 | Ind. Seasons |
| 7 | Andy Hawkins | 1 | 1990 | 1990 | 30-30 | Ind. Seasons |
.
Burnett is now on the Brian Cashman Mount Rushmore of Pitching Acquisitions along with Javy Vazquez, Kei Igawa, Carl Pavano, Jeff Weaver and Kevin Brown.
Not really. AJ definitely helped them win a title in 2009. The rest of them…didn’t.
Add Randy Johnson to that stinks up the place list.
Steve, how many GMs that held the position more than five years, have spotless records regarding the development and/or the acquirement of pitchers? I think that a hell of a lot of luck and money doth make the great staff. Look at the starting pitchers that won Torre the four rings, only Pettite came through the system. The rest were free agents or trades for veterans that could have just as easily rolled “snake-eyes”. I really hope that Cashman stays for a few more years so that he can be fairly evaluated. Only with years being put between The Bosses’ passing can this happen…
Evan3457 wrote:
His WAR in 2009 was 2.8
Let’s not make it like Burnett was a great pitcher in 2009.
Because, he was not.
Basically, he was about as good as Scott Feldman was for the Rangers in 2009.
Steve L. wrote:
I didn’t say he was “great” in 2009.
I said he helped the Yanks win the title. And he did. Which his lousy pitching since doesn’t change.
And I said that distinguishes him from Vazquez, Igawa, etc. Because it does.
It isn’t exactly fair to judge a GM’s performance by including only the duds of his record. You could do the same for virtually every GM in the game. Curious, I looked at team pitching since 2007. No time to do an exhaustive analysis, but a cursory one shows Yanks pitching rank in the American League (ERA and opposing Batting Avg):
ERA: 2007 – 7th; 2008 – 7th; 2009 – 3rd; 2010 – 7th; 2011 – 3rd
BA: 2007 – 6th; 2008 – 8th; 2009 2nd; 2010 – 4th; 2011 – 7th
This suggests that Cashman has consistently ranked above the mean, and often high enough to offer playoff success. Not remarkable, but also not a shambles. Since 09, not bad at all, especially considering we did not get Cliff Lee and had to crop together a staff with an inferior FA class (after Lee).